Blood bank management the easy way
Countries worldwide face the challenge of often having too few blood donors, even though blood reserves are urgently needed. In Rwanda, the blood donation rate is very low: there are around 38000 blood donors out of its 13 million citizens. In Rwanda, blood transfusions are managed by an agency for the Ministry of Health, the Rwanda Biomedical Center (RBC), more precisely by its Blood Transfusion Division BT: it supplies all 30 districts of Rwanda with blood transfusions via its regional centres (Kigali, North, South, East and West). This is due to the fact that donor management and recruitment is resource intensive.
In view of the numerous challenges associated with blood donations in Rwanda, DTC Rwanda has taken the initiative. It is supporting the Rwanda Biomedical Center’s Blood Transfusion Division in the development of an integrated blood bank management system – a promising step for the future. It will resolve several challenges, such as donor management and recruitment, real-time reporting, requesting blood from health centres, blood delivery via multiple channels including drones, logistics and inventory management. In short, one system covers all requests and administrative tasks around blood bank management.
The integrated blood bank management system is designed to contribute to the continuous improvement of the capacity of the health system in Rwanda. It is easily scalable to other African countries and beyond, depending on the level of existing digital government services. The Rwanda Biomedical Center’s Blood Transfusion Division aims to facilitate the work of doctors in Rwanda with safe blood and an increase in blood donors to save lives.